How Should Business Use Social Media?

This has been a big topic of discussion for me this week: Which departments of a typical company could be benefiting from an increased social media presence?

The answer is probably all of them, but listed below, yes in a specific order, are the ones I think should be seriously considering getting on the social network train.

First of all any company, no matter what kind, should be encouraging ALL of its employees to be blogging. This is how you find your thought leaders. You hired people because of their expertise; let them show you what they can do. You never know whose blog will go viral. Now…

Communications

This is the Michael Scott or Leslie Knope of your social networking, for those of you familiar with NBC‘s Thursday night line up. If that was lost on you, this is the manager of your social media campaign. If this department is merged with your Marketing or PR departments, then fine, they can be manager. The point is, someone needs to oversee the big picture, as consistency is a very important element of social networking. This person, or team of people, should be pushing employee blogs along with managing what the other departments are putting out on social media.

Marketing

These are the fishermen (and women) with the big nets out there working, day in and day out, to reel you in some more clients. This department should be running your company’s twitter account. They should work hard at intelligently following people who are both leaders in the field and potential clients. They should also work hard at running promotions and contests on Twitter and Facebook in order to generate buzz. Put out positive and meaningful content and people will remember you when the time comes for them to use your service.

Public Relations

This is the area in which blogging is so important. Not only should the PR department be blogging about all the good your company does in the community, but they should encourage employees to blog about the different charities they support or organizations they belong to. With so many options for every possible service, it’s important to set yourself apart and building a good reputation online can help you do that.

Customer Service

Why use social media for Customer Service? Because your customers use social media. It’s as simple as that. Give people options and let them choose which way they prefer to contact you. It makes you look available and them feel important. Case closed.

I’m sure there are a hundred other ways specific companies would benefit from social media and I invite you to add them here. But I think these apply to most companies and, when used together, would improve the online presence of any organization.

My Cold Dead Hands

That’s where you can pry my Facebook and Twitter passwords out of, sir.

TechDirt reported in a article this morning that the Maryland Department of Correction is requiring all employees to turn over the user names and passwords of any social networks they may belong to as part of the employee screening process.

Now, be honest. Did I just fall asleep and wake up in some sort of Orwellian dystopia? Because the last time I checked, we have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the United States, and this is a violation of it.

Would you consider giving the password to your personal email account to a prospective employer? How about your online banking password? No, because that is a hideously inappropriate request, and so is this.

Yes, the lines have been blurred with regard to Facebook and Twitter as to whether they are for business or strictly personal. But, unless you have been specifically hired to post or tweet on behalf of a company, whatever you say on social networks represents no one but you.

I understand that employers want to ensure they are hiring quality people and that those people don’t say bad things about them. But here’s a newsflash: people went out and got drunk on weekends before it was possible to share the evidence with the internet. And remember message boards? Yes, they still exist, and people can still post anonymously to them about companies who treat them badly.

Perhaps a better approach to keeping your employees happy would be to treat them well, because they are the important part of your company now. People brand themselves as themselves, not as a part of your machine. It is the individual who is now the expert, and the company that needs them, not the other way around.

FB adds LGBT-friendly statuses!

Mashable reported in an article last night that, effective immediately, Facebook will offer two new relationship statuses to U.S. residents: “in a domestic partnership,” and “in a civil union.” This is, in my opinion, a wonderful step in the right direction for the LGBT movement. On the other hand, many people and organizations could view this as a validation of inequality due the fact that gay “marriage” is still federally rejected.

As much as I think any Defense of Marriage Act has no place in federal government, I also don’t personally put a bulk of importance on language. Don’t get me wrong; language matters and until “marriage” is available to everyone, this battle will rage on. With that said, I would never want to deny people equal rights under a different name just because I think it should be under the same name.

After the multiple teen suicides last year, Facebook teamed up with GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) to halt anti-gay bullying on Facebook and other social media. I commend Facebook for its attention to this very serious matter. It has responded to the people in a big way.

The Mashable article also reported, “A Facebook rep told us in an e-mail, ‘This has been a highly requested feature from users. We want to provide options for people to genuinely and authentically reflect their relationships on Facebook.'”

In a world where it has become taboo to take a stand, especially on such polarizing issues as gay marriage, I applaud Facebook for joining the fight in such a public way. If social media were a royal family, Facebook is the Queen. And she’s on our side now.

Kevin Smith Lied on Twitter!

Can’t anyone take a joke anymore?

Independent filmmaker, Kevin Smith, of such pictures as Clerks and Chasing Amy has produced a new horror film called “Red State.” Smith, who considers his audience to be niche enough, felt as though he could better capture the attention of his fan base without the aid of a distribution company. Then he had an even better idea. MTV reported last week (article available here) that,

“After indicating on Twitter that he’d be awarding distribution rights for his new horror flick in a live auction following the Sundance premiere of “Red State,” Smith abruptly made the solitary bid on the film and awarded it to himself.”

HA! And guess what? People were mad.

Tweeters and Bloggers alike gave Smith a lot of flak for lying. My question is: were any of those bloggers/tweeters planning on purchasing the distribution rights to this film? No? Then relax. It was a joke. And an interesting story because something like this could never have happened in the 3-Dimensional world.

Smith could never have hosted a faux live auction just to amuse himself and his fans. Twitter allows a free and immediate place to do something like this. Nor would anyone care if he announced a live auction and then canceled it. Only because it was a Twitter contest did people think it was such a rotten-dirty-no-good-thing to do. Why?

Because on the Twitter scale, we’re all born equal; anyone can be the one with 50,000 followers. It’s not about who you know, it’s about who cares to know you. So even if you’re famous, people are going to call you out if they feel you’ve done something unsavory, like lie. Smith claimed he wasn’t lying, but going for a more thumb-in-your-eye laugh, and he’s sure his fan base will get the joke.

He added, in the MTV article, “What’s more entertaining than ‘Guess what, mother—-er, I’m buying the movie, bitches!'” he grinned. “At the very least, they can sit there and be like, ‘As we’ve seen, he’s imploded. He’s clearly insane.’ That’s entertainment!”

Taco Bell, You Saucy Minx

So, Taco Bell…

I think we all know what I’m talking about here. An attorney is Alabama is suing Taco Bell because its “beef” is only 36% beef (article available here). The FDA requires, for a substance to be referred to as “beef,” that it actually be composed of at least 40% beef. — I have no comment on this, except to say that it’s a repulsively low standard. Oh, I suppose I did have a comment on that.

Yahoo news reported that, “The remainder of the Taco Bell’s meat filling product consists of “extenders” like water, “Isolated Oat Product,” wheat oats, maltodrextrin, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent, autolyzed yeast extract, modified corn starch, sodium phosphate and silicon dioxide.”

Mmm… autolyzed yeast extract, YUM. This is disgusting, I know, but to be honest with you, I couldn’t care less because I don’t eat at Taco Bell (except their bean burritos, which are delicious).

What I do find amusing are Taco Bell’s recovery efforts. One of social media’s biggest advantages to companies is its ability to smooth out incidents such as these. While it can’t erase negative press, it can bring positive press to page one of search engines and let’s be honest, when is the last time either us of went to page two or three? So, while I commend Taco Bell for looking to social media to solve this big, yucky problem, their method is rather ironic.

According to Bluhalo Taco Bell is running a promotion, offering free food to anyone who “likes” its Facebook page. Ask me what they get for free.

BEEFY TACOS! Not joking.

Their strategy is this: In order to recover from the fact that we serve beefy tacos with only 36% beef in them, we’ll give them away! Awesome, Taco Bell… awesome. I wish I could say, “That won’t work, Taco Bell,” or “We see right through that, Taco Bell.” But the truth is, it probably will work and this will all quietly go away. Thanks, Social Media, without you, Taco Bell might have closed down. You save the day, yet again.

Offended by Groupon’s Superbowl Ads?

Get over it!

I’m not surprised that people were offended by Groupon’s Superbowl Ad Campaign, but I am surprised at people’s lack of comprehension of it. It was offensive! They know it! It’s WHY they did it.

Groupon’s star-studded ads were ironically offensive in a self-aware sort of way. While Timothy Hutton is talking about raping the Himalayan culture, he’s doing what? Eating the food that the Tibetan people can “at least still make well.” This is not some accidental faux-pas, it’s the Superbowl people, what do you expect?

And Elizabeth Hurley, with her cutesy wordplay, “not all deforestation is bad,” as she plugs a Brazilian Waxing Groupon. Come on, that’s punny! (Even if it isn’t funny).

You know what else isn’t supposed to be funny? Violence. But try telling that to Pepsi Max, who aired not one but two commercials where the punchline is someone being hit the face or groin (or both) by a Pepsi can. Really, Chaplin? Do you think you just discovered slapstick or something? Offensive.

And while we’re on the subject… Christina, it is unfortunate that you forgot the words to our National Anthem, some might even say… offensive.

And finally, FOX, while you shamelessly promote your sponsors, you even more shamelessly promote yourself. That’s right, Glee girl, I’m talking to you. Pretty clever to have Lea Michele sing America, The Beautiful and to remind us not to forget to tune into the Glee event of the season conveniently aired “right after the Superbowl.” Survey says? Offensive.

I do understand that the gravity of rain forest devastation and the importance of retaining one’s own culture and I agree that these ads make very light out of some important issues. But I don’t agree for a fraction of a second that Groupon didn’t know exactly what they were doing, nor do I think they made a mistake marketing-wise.

Afterall… what are we talking about today? Not Doritos fantastic campaign (and it was), but Groupon and how racy they were. So I must say bravo, Groupon. Bravo.

Get on the Bus

Mashable posted an article this morning about the NY Times changing its homepage to include links to its Twitter and Facebook accounts. This is the New York Times, one of the most respected news outfits in the world, and they want you to follow them on Twitter. This got me wondering, who else in the big-boy world of business has succumbed to the seductive ways of social networking?

GE doesn’t have any icons on its main website, but it does on its appliance website. I suppose this is symbolic somehow of either our nation’s obsession with home appliances, or our disinterest in innovation. Only kidding…

Recently, Focus reported, “In a study called Millennials and Baby Boomers Banking Channel Preference Survey 2009 conducted by Microsoft Corp, it was found that generation gap will affect the way in which consumers will bank. Hence, financial institutions will need to get accustomed to the diverse needs of their customers.” However, neither Bank of America nor Chase give me the opportunity to connect with them through social media (at least not from their home page). Que es la problema, bancos?

DLA Piper, the second largest law firm in the country, has Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn icons shamelessly posted on its home page. And you thought lawyers weren’t hip…

The digital agency Bluhalo reported last week that, “An average of 75 per cent of Americans either donate their time or money to non-profit, community groups or organisations, but the proportion of avid social networking users to contribute to charities or their community stands at more than 82 per cent,” Bill and Melinda Gates must be aware of this, as they have links to their social networking accounts right on their homepage.

I offer a quote from Robert G. Allen: “No matter what your product is, you are ultimately in the education business. Your customers need to be constantly educated about the many advantages of doing business with you, trained to use your products more effectively, and taught how to make never-ending improvement in their lives.”

Social Media is that platform for educating your potential clients as to why they need your services. If you still think social networking is for bored college students, here’s a wake up call: Business News Daily conducted a study that concluded 4 out of 5 businesses will implement a social media strategy in 2011. 4 out of 5. That is 80% of businesses who will be on Facebook and Twitter within this next year. I guarantee some of that 80% is your competition. Do you really want to be the last person at the party?

The point is this: for better or worse social networking is here to stay; so you better get on the bus cause it’s leaving with you or without you.